I think you're right. Obama is correct to abandon the weird Butch Cassidy thing Bush had with Karzai, but he's taken it a step too far, right down to snubbing Karzai at his innauguration. That starts to become counterproductive as it helps to undermine the government of an allied democracy we claim to want to support.

Also, the governors all owe their fealty to Karzai. If he gets pissy, they go. They're not administrators in the same way we'd consider state governors. So if Karzai goes, then there will probably be a huge turnover in provincial governors — something of a nightmare I doubt the writers of Afghanistan's constitution pondered much when they made it so dependent on the personality of one man.

Rajiv deserves a lot of praise for that piece — it is very balanced (which is rare).

I think you're right. Obama is correct to abandon the weird Butch Cassidy thing Bush had with Karzai, but he's taken it a step too far, right down to snubbing Karzai at his innauguration. That starts to become counterproductive as it helps to undermine the government of an allied democracy we claim to want to support.

Also, the governors all owe their fealty to Karzai. If he gets pissy, they go. They're not administrators in the same way we'd consider state governors. So if Karzai goes, then there will probably be a huge turnover in provincial governors — something of a nightmare I doubt the writers of Afghanistan's constitution pondered much when they made it so dependent on the personality of one man.

Rajiv deserves a lot of praise for that piece — it is very balanced (which is rare).